Meet the "most popular, highly requested, #1 shoo-in, Nintendo All-Star, more popular than Phoenix Wright, best of all time" character that everybody wants!

What do you think Sakurai?

Sakurai: I think that would probably be pretty impossible. [Laughs] If we had put our best efforts into it, we may have been able to do it. But he might have been a little slow. Would that be all right? [Laughs]

To Ridley Supporters this quote translates to:
"See?! Sakurai said he could work and knows how popular he is! Totally gonna be in SSB4"

Unfortunately, this quote does not help their cause.

Nobody is saying, that it's not possible for Sakurai to put Ridley in the game. Frankly, anything is possible...even if Sakurai categorizes it as pretty impossible

But to suggest that this quote is promising for Ridley is delusional. The question posed to Sakurai asked if it was ever a consideration, and as such, this answer demonstrates that it really wasn't and if it ever was, it wasn't taken seriously. I don't foresee any of that changing for the next Smash.

Ridley fans would argue that times have changed, Sakurai now knows how popular Ridley is, fan demand is going crazy, and if Ridley isn't in Sakurai would face a backlash like Megaman not being in MVC3.

Difference Being: Megaman is actually popular and relevant

Not to burst your bubble guys, but Sakurai isn't reading GameFAQs or Smashboards. The demand isn't anywhere near crazy, and if Ridley isn't playable, outside of a few thirteen year olds crying at their local Gamestop employees as protest, there won't be any form of backlash whatsoever.

Let's have a serious little conversation here about Ridley.

He's too big.

Now, when I say this, I'm not suggesting that he couldn't be re-sized.
My reasoning for this is that in every appearance he has ever been in, he has been a gigantic flying beast notable for being able to hold Samus in one claw, and drag her along a wall. Proportionally speaking, Samus, one of the tallest characters in Brawl, fits inside Ridley's head.

Many disregard this. This picture floats around as a "solid argument"

Looks good right? Well yeah, when you disregard what Ridley actually looks like in every other appearance.

This is what I call the "Reverse Olimar" argument. When you take away Ridley's proportional size relative to his game world, resizing him, as is done in the first picture, looks normal. Unfortunately, it's a blatant disregard for Ridley proportionally speaking as seen in the image directly above.

Olimar and Kirby on the other hand, both characters known to be the size of a quarter, aren't proportionally problematic. What I mean by this is, in the Pikmin games for example, the entire game focuses on Olimar as if he's a normal sized character. Even if he's the size of a quarter, there's nobody on the character roster that's appeared in the Pikmin games to demonstrate that size difference.

For example, if Mario walked into Pikmin world, he would literally squash Olimar like a bug. However, because Pikmin focuses on Olimar as relative to his game world at a normal size, with nothing in the Smash Universe as a point of reference, nothing about this picture is unreasonable.

Not to mention Olimar represented a new/popular series with a completely unique moveset. Not so much Ridley.

Whereas this looks completely absurd

Especially when Sakurai himself, when putting Ridley in as a critical boss has demonstrated this canon size, which falls in line with every other Ridley appearance ever.

This is where the Ridley champions point out the NES Metroid and the Melee intro. Because a 24 year old 8-bit game, and a split second cameo appearance completely erases every other appearance in every other game.

First: The Melee Intro

That's the smoking gun everyone uses.
The problem is a matter of two factors.

Perspective and Cinematics. Here is another screen grab from the Melee intro I'd like to share:

The perspective of this image is constantly ignored. RIdley is positioned much farther back than Samus than it appears. This can clearly be seen in motion.

For a much more direct correlation in viewing planes, I direct your attention to THIS screengrab from the Melee intro

That's closer to what we typically see Ridley sized as. Note how he's much taller than Samus and his head is roughly the size of Samus' torso. And that doesn't even include his wingspan which already looks immense in the image we're used to seeing.

Now I direct your attention to why Ridley is showcased this way. It's the very same reason why in this intro, when Samus jumps over Ridley, she stops, and floats in mid-air to shoot a missle at him.

It's Cinematics. The perspective, pacing and framing of this scene is carefully crafted to capture an action packed hallway fight between Samus and Ridley. That's precisely why the perspective is skewered and yet another reason why this wouldn't work as a deviation.

The purpose of this cinematic is to capture the action scene, and make Samus look heroic all within the course of a couple of seconds, in a hallway, at a fast pace. And even then, when you look closely as I've demonstrated, you can still see Ridley is still quite large.

Then we come to the NES example.

This game from 24 years ago, the first game in the series before anything ever developed, and with technological limitation is cited as a primary argument, despite evidence from every other recent game.

Unfortunately, Metroid Zero Mission, a remake of the Original Metroid showcases the developers intentions with more up to date technology. Suddenly, Ridley looks like he always does.

Some point to Super Metroid, in which case...he can still fit Samus in his mouth:

Lastly, people like to say that, much like Bowser, Ridley's size "fluctuates". I will give them credit. Ridley does fluctuate. He fluctuates from RIDICULOUSLY HUGE to PRETTY FREAKING BIG. It's impossible to expect every character to stay the exact same size in every game, but Ridley has been consistently much larger than Samus in every single appearance.

While Bowser at times has looked like this:

He has, in many occurrences, looked like this:

The size fluctuation of Bowser has ranged from Mario-sized, to Galaxy sized, where Ridley has remained at Galaxy size in all of his appearances. There's really not a legitimate recent game that contradicts that.

Now this isn't all to say that Sakurai, in some radical act of deviation, couldn't make Ridley a small playable character. Nobody is contending that it's not possible to do. I'm just contending that it's not entirely reasonable, and most of the arguments used like the ones above are weak, and are grasping at straws to prove a really non-important point.

It could happen, but what seems more logical? Sakurai keeping things consistent or just completely going against everything that has ever existed for this one time to appease a loud portion of GameFAQs users? If anything, I think Brawl showcased his intentions best.

Sakurai: (laughs)

I know everybody wants to wipe Brawl from their memory, (see my my last post for why they're dumb) however, it provides a lot of insight onto this subject as well.

For one, everyone argues about how popular Ridley is now. But they fail to mention just how popular he was prior to Brawl. Even as far back as Melee people were asking for Ridley. Just because he's a left-over doesn't make him a shoo-in.

If Ridley was arguably the most popular Metroid rep who made the most sense of being in the game, why did Sakurai choose Zero Suit Samus? His specific reasoning for Zero Suit Samus was for the SOLE PURPOSE of padding the Metroid character roster. If that was the case, why wasn't Ridley first in line?

There's no justification for ZSS over Ridley. I've had supporters try to tell me she actually was more important. Don't be delusional guys

Although, his popularity was taken into account in

Brawl: he was made a boss twice.

Couple this with the quote at the beginning and you start to see the views of the developers on this issue. They don't consider Ridley as playable character material. Unlike other game companies, Nintendo is pretty strict with having things a certain way and maintaining a level of quality.

This criteria befalls the whole Smash Bros roster. Character's typically need to be important, represent series respectably, have unique potential, and be feasible in the Smash bros universe. While many fans will argue it's all about fan support, the sad truth is, it's not. Fan support alone won't make Ridley playable. That being said, aside from Metroid die-hard fans, he's not that important, he doesn't offer anything entirely unique and of course, he's not really feasible on the Smash Bros roster.

You guys can hope. I have no problem with hoping for a character that is unreasonable or has no chance of ever being in. (I'm guilty of that with Geno) My problem is when one deludes themselves into a rose-tinted world where it's actually probable. Ignoring all evidence to the contrary and only picking the weak and flawed portions of testimony to make their larger case.

I contend that we will never see a playable Ridley in an Official Smash Bros game. If I'm wrong, I will publicly come out and admit it. I have no emotional attachment and I fully accept that there's that possibility. I just feel strong enough in everything I've outlined here today to take this firm stand.

For one, the only times Bowser has been "Mario size" has been in spin-offs, which means, if that counts, then Waluigi should count as a logical choice for Smash. In the main adventure games, Bowser has always been "too big", save for the early games, but those don't count if Ridley's don't. Feel free to prove me wrong on this issue, though.

2nd, there is actually false information. You say there is no character that can compare to Olimar in the Pikmin series. Are you forgetting about the Remembered Old Buddy (R.O.B.'s head)? Olimar can fit inside the eye socket.

3rd, you have to admit, Ridley being able to fit Samus in his mouth doesn't account for much. Ridley's got a big mouth.

4th, you clearly overexaggerate what people ask for. You claim that people want Ridley to be the same size as Samus or at most Bowser. This is not true, as who's to say Ridley can't be a LARGER character than Bowser? There's no rule against that. Ridley can still be a large imposing figure while still able to work within the game. Other fighting games proved this. The most notable example that comes to mind is Sentinel in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and 3, as well as X-Men: Children of the Atom. Sentinels are normally skycraper sized, and probably bigger than Ridley ever was, and yet in the three games I listed, the Sentinel appears much smaller than normal, but still by far the largest character, and guess what? He still works. (Don't get on the Sentinel being cheap in Marvel 2 crap, that was due to playstyle rather than size)

(contin.)5th, you use the Sakurai quote as if he means "lolimpossible. Never gonna happen *laughs*" When he flatout says this "If we had put our best efforts into it, we may have been able to do it.". This shows that if he actually TRIED to make Ridley playable, he could do it.Though to be fair, this argument has been taken out of context by Anti-Ridley's and Ridley supporters alike that it really shouldn't be used for EITHER case. Given that the man speaks Japanese, we have his translater to blame for the confusion.

6th, how is Ridley not popular and relevant? Because YOU say so? Please, tell me you're trolling with that. Ridley is one of the most requested characters worldwide, if you have done your research instead of stay in that little GameFaqs bubble. As for relevant? I guess being in near every Metroid title doesn't mean shit, considering that the only other character to do that is fricking SAMUS HERSELF.

7th, this is pretty hypocritical: "he's not that important, he doesn't offer anything entirely unique" When the characters you say are almost all guilty of that.

-Isaac? Fine.-Saki? Fine.-Samurai Goroh? OOH! A swordsman. So unique. Oh wait, he's an acrofat. That makes him sort of unique, except for the fact we got swordsmen and an acrofat (Wario) already. As for importance? He's only one of the bajillion characters that make F-Zero, and he honestly has nothing over them but a fanbase, but you said fan support wasn't enough.-Professor Layton? 3rd Party. Automatically not as impotant as another Nintendo character.-Little Mac? Important, yes. Unique, no. Has nothing to set himself apart from say, Donkey Kong.-New Kid Icarus rep from Uprising? Definitely not important or unique (considering this usually means Magnus). If you said Palutena or Medusa, THEN I would agree.-New Zelda rep from Skyward Sword? Neither choice (Ghirahim or Demise) are unique nor are they important in the long run. Just villains of the week.-Takamaru? Even with all his fancy weapons he can use for specials, he's just another swordsman. And a swordsman with special weapons is already in the game anyway. That's Link, Mah Boi.-King K. Rool? Fine.-Zoroark? Debatable on important, but certainly unique.-Duck Hunt Dog? He's only as unique as fans make him. Otherwise, he's just a dog that laughs at you.Now, I'm not a die-hard Metroid fan (nor can I consider myself a fan, seeing as I don't own any Metroid title), but even I know how important Ridley is. Without Ridley, we would have no Samus Aran: Bounty Hunter. He set the chains in motion by killing her parents in front of her, and the two are locked in enternal conflict in near every Metroid title. He's more recurring than the supposed Big Bad, Mother Brain. (Who dedekong should STFU about. Seriously.)

8th, Smash is not canon anyway. What would it matter if Ridley went on Jenny Craig to "fit"? We got size inconsistancies galore in Smash. I'm not saying Ridley would be perfect Samus size, but a realistic, larger than Bowser size would work just fine. Like in this hack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyvWCMZ4s60&feature=channel_video_titleHe's still the largest character, still an imposing figure, what's the problem? OH NO! SAMUS CAN'T FIT IN HIS MOUTH NO MORE! Big deal, no one's going to care unless they really have no life.

Note, that you do not know me, but I lurk GameFaqs from time to time to see if any potential info comes up. If you must know who I am, you can know me as GoldenYuiitusin, and you can contact me through YouTube if you wish to continue to discussion in a more private setting. I'll be waiting.

You pretty much demonstrated that the resizing idea can work by putting up the edited pictures of Ridley fighting other Smash Bros. characters. Whether you actually like the idea of the purple people-eating pirate fighting other characters at a reduced size has nothing to do with whether it would work, so I would consider those arguments irrelevant.

Also, an 8-bit video game made 24 years ago DOES have relevance, but it seems that you ignore it because it is inconvenient to your argument. This tells me that you don't have sufficient evidence to debunk it and that the other parts of your argument are likely just as flawed.

And as far as "he has always been x many times bigger than Samus in x many Metroid games," what does that matter? We're discussing Smash Bros., not Metroid.

And as far as "the demand isn't anywhere near crazy" goes, explain why Ridley was tied for 2nd-most requested character with 2-3 (?) other characters for Brawl, second only to King Dedede?

Just another example of a whiny gamer who wants to use his or her personal opinion as an argument about whether something could work in a video game . . .

You forgot to poiint out that in the picture you have from the melee opening, Samus is crouching. Look, she is literally on one knee. Throughout therest of the cutscene, they were equally sized. And it wouldn't be important if it were from a cutscene from any joe-shmo game, but since its from a game in the series that we are debating about, I feel it has a little more revalence.

This post is biased garbage. You insist that you have no attachment to it but then blatantly tilt various factors in your favor. Ridley's size is every bit as relevant as Bowser's, e.g. it isn't.

I seriously laughed out loud when you said that he wasn't relevant and that nobody likes him. You're clearly off your rocker, pal, because he's every bit as important as Samus, something the others who oppose you have pointed out, and he's very much popular.

Understand that Ridley's chance in the next Smash is pretty much entirely up to Sakurai's willingness to MAKE him work. There are NO other factors involved. He can resize any character however he wants and, as long as it looks right, there will be no consequence. Ridley can work. Your little comparison picture pretty much proved it.

Also, you talk about irrelevance and lack of import, then suggest Zoroark as a character? Really?

Get off the internet and learn how to logic before you start making stupid arguments.